The fashion of clothing in the moral maze
On BbC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed the morality of fashion.
What, you didn’t know fashion was a moral issue? Tsk!
According to designer-of-clothing-for-the-fabulously-rich Stella McCartney, we shouldn’t wash or dry-clean our clothes in order to protect the environment. Some performers at this year’s Glastonbury festival denounced “throwaway fashion” and are encouraging fans to buy their outfits second-hand (or “pre-cherished”). Is so-cheap-you-can-chuck-it clothing, or the sweatshop conditions in which some of it is produced, proof that capitalism is rotten to the last fibre? Or is this all literally just wearing your conscience on your sleeve?
To ask these pressing questions and more, I was joined by fellow panellists Matthew Taylor, Giles Fraser and Ella Whelan. Our witnesses were journalist and broadcaster Tansy Hoskins, behavioural psychologist Dr Carolyn Mair, philosopher Shahidha Bari and Tim Worstall of the Adam Smith Institute. You can listen to the programme here.
